Orville Gibson, the inventor of the archtop guitar, founded the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company in 1902. Gibson had good success innovating and selling guitars until the 1960s when the Norlin Corporation bought the Gibson Company. The guitar quality took a huge dip and the company was inches from bankruptcy until 1986. This is when the current owners, Henry Juszkiewicz, Gary Zebrowski, and David Berryman, purchased the company. Gibson now also owns numerous other brands including Epiphone, Steinberger, Baldwin, and Tobias.
The ES-150 was Gibson's first Electric Spanish. Produced from 1936 to 1941 it is usually considered the first commercially successful Spanish electric guitar. These vintage Gibson guitars were hollow-body archtop guitars with a single coil pickup in the neck position, an adjustable bridge, and only available in Sunburst. Two notable players of the ES-150 were Eddie Durham and Charlie Christian. Originally costing $150 in 1936 would be over $2000 in today's dollars.
The Les Paul was Gibson's first solid-body electric guitar. Original produced from 1952 until 1960, they were reintroduced in 1968 and are still produced today. Named after its endorser the Les Paul and went to become the most popular Gibson guitar model. It was available in a number of colors and variations including: the Standard, the Goldtop, the Custom, the Junior, and the Special.
The Goldtop - produced from 1952 until 1957 - had a one-piece, trapeze-style bridge and tailpiece, 2 P-90 single-coil pickups, and had the strings fitted under the steel stop-bar. The top was made of maple.
The Custom - produced from 1954 until 1960 - was nicknamed "Black Beauty" because the entire guitar was black. These vintage Gibson guitars sported a mahogany top and one of the pickups was in the neck potion. This was the first guitar to incorporate a Tune-o-Matic bridge design, which allowed the player to slightly adjust the tone of each string. In 1957 the pickups were updated to humbuckers and later a third pickup was added.
The Junior - produced from 1954 until 1960 - was meant as a beginner's guitar. They were shaped like the other Les Paul guitars however, had only one P-90 pickup and simple tone and volume controls. In 1955 Gibson added the TV that was simply the Junior with a natural/yellow finish. In 1958 both models were changed to a double-cutaway body-style.
The Special - produced from 1955 until 1960 - had the same natural/yellow finish as the TV and was also given the double-cutaway design in 1959. The Special had two soapbar P-90 single-coil pickups, one of which was in the neck position.
The ES-335 was not only Gibson's first but was the world's first semi-hollowbody electric guitar. Released in 1958 these vintage Gibson guitars were electric Spanish guitars with a solid center and hollow sides. The semi-hollowbody was an attempt to reduce the feedback common hollowbody electric guitars and still have a warmer sound than that found in the solidbody guitars. The ES-335 has a maple body, 2 pickups, and side holes. It is still in production today.
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